Picture a mother and her child sharing presence, two minutes of uninterrupted time together, in the middle of a busy day in a busy city. Taking two minutes to tell each other, “I love you. I trust you. I respect you. I appreciate your presence in my life.” This will happen over and over again in the center of Jerusalem this fall during Presence=Present.

I am both honoured and humbled to share with you that my proposal for Presence=Present has been selected to be included in the highly competitive, juried 2015 Jerusalem Biennale for Contemporary Jewish Art. This event attracts thousands of people and is sponsored by several important organizations, including The Jerusalem Foundation, Bank Hapoalim, and the Oman School of Art (Bezalel). At the end, I have included a number of websites for more information on this event, taking place from September 24th to November 5th, 2015.

“The Jerusalem Biennale is a stage for professional artists, creating today, who refer in their work, in one way or the other, to the Jewish World of Content. The Biennale will take place every two years in different locations around the city and will give an opportunity for different creative forces to manifest themselves within the framework of Contemporary Jewish Art.” (http://jerusalembiennale.org)

In collaboration with world-renown Israeli artist David Gerstein, Presence=Present will be a unique meeting of architecture, sculpture, and performance, inspired by my awareness that the greatest present parents can give to their children is their presence and vice versa. In our technologically complex world with continual distractions, alienation and loneliness are common conditions. Like my plays, Presence=Present is committed to growing the bonds of intimacy between individuals, and connecting people more deeply with their rich, inner world. All of my work seeks to create transformative experiences that catalyze spiritual and emotional growth. Presence=Present will be the featured in the exhibit “Motherhood Archetypes in Contemporary Jewish Art” (Ima Iya’la) at Hechal Shlomo, 58 King George Street, Jerusalem.